Film Review: "Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres" (2022).

From Netflix comes Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres. This documentary film directed by Suzanne Joe Kai. The life of rock journalist Ben Fong-Torres takes center stage in this documentary on how the legendary Rolling Stone writer and editor defined an era.

On January 7, 1945, American rock Journalist, author and broadcaster, Benjamin Fong-Torres (born Fong Chan Ho) was born. He is best known for his association with Rolling Stone magazine (until 1981) and the San Francisco Chronicle (from around 1982). Born in Alameda, California, Ben's father Ricardo (born Fong Kwok Seung), changed his surname to Torres and posed as a Filipino in order to immigrate to the United States due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. The family later adopted the hyphenated surname, Fong-Torres. In 1966, Ben graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in radio-TV-film, was a writer and senior editor of Rolling Stone nearly from the magazine's inception. He conducted interviews for Rolling Stone of entertainment figures including Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, comedian Steve Martin and Linda Ronstadt's first cover story in 1975. He also profiled Marvin Gaye, Sly and the Family Stone, Bonnie Raitt, Paul McCartney and Rodney Dangerfield. A Fong-Torres interview with Ray Charles was awarded the Deems Taylor Award for Magazine Writing in 1974. Ben was also a rock DJ for San Francisco radio station KSAN-FM in the 1970s. He later hosted a live, weekly entertainment and talk show, Fog City Radio, on NPR affiliate KQED-FM. On television, he is the five-time Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of the Chinese New Year Parade broadcast on KTVU (Fox) in San Francisco. He has published several books, including: Hickory Wind, a biography of Gram Parsons; The Rice Room, a memoir; The Hits Just Keep on Coming, a history of Top 40 radio, and two compilations of past articles, Not Fade Away and Becoming Almost Famous (published in May 2006). In November 2006, his book with The Doors (The Doors By The Doors) was published by Hyperion, and he published The Grateful Dead Scrapbook (Chronicle Books) in 2009. In 2011, Fong-Torres published Eagles: Taking It to the Limit (Running Press). In November 2013, Willin': The Story of Little Feat (Da Capo Press), was released. From July 2005 to April 2019, Fong-Torres wrote the bi-weekly column "Radio Waves" in the San Francisco Chronicle's Sunday Datebook. He has been a contributing editor to Parade magazine, and has served as Senior Editor for Qello, an app and site that streams music concerts and documentaries. In 2007 to 2008, he hosted Backstage Sundays on San Francisco's KFRC-FM, and he was a DJ on BossBossRadio.com until 2016, when he became program director and DJ for Moonalice Radio. In 2004, Ben was inducted into the SF State Alumni Hall of Fame and delivered the commencement address in 2005.

The film is not just a documentary, it is a documentary of celebration. It is not a lionization, it is an exploration. But most importantly I think it is a film that Ben would be proud of.

Simon says Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres receives: